OBS Chapter 845: Finally Gained
Chapter 845: Finally Gained
Chapter 845: Finally Gained
When Li Siye first met the envoy, he only took a cursory look and had no idea of the other party's quality. However, he also knew what his Khan wanted to hear, so he said:
"Compared to the palace guards of His Majesty, they are nothing compared to the difference between heaven and earth, and compared to the warriors of the Six Courts led by General Qutlug, they are also far inferior. But they are well-equipped and march in an orderly manner. They are probably on par with the Uighur soldiers recruited by the Khan."
The general of the Six Courtyards was usually the King of the Southern Courtyard, which was also known as the Southern Great King Courtyard in the Liao Dynasty.
By the time of Yelu Zhilugu, the Western Liao Dynasty no longer had the position of King of the Southern Courtyard, and the warriors of the six courtyards were all commanded by Yelu Zhilugu's adopted son, Quchuli.
Due to its sparse population, the Western Liao Dynasty could only implement a tributary system in the local areas. Many ethnic groups, including the Han people, had a great deal of autonomy and only needed to pay taxes and perform military service. The Western Liao court would not interfere in the local areas.
During wartime, Western Liao would call on all its tribes to send troops to join the war, so to compare combat effectiveness, we could only use the soldiers of other tribes for comparison.
The interpreter did not relay these words, and the two reinforcement generals looked confused.
Ivan couldn't help but mutter to Baron Fulk beside him: "What are they talking about?"
Baron Fulk shook his head and smiled bitterly. How could he understand Khitan? The distance from his hometown Languedoc to here was almost as far as the saying "from Ireland to Khitan", which was equivalent to walking from one end of the world to the other end.
"I asked for help as Juer Khan, but the Persian king sent this kind of people to support me? Where are the Immortal Army under his command?"
Yelu Zhilugu sneered. Although he had nominally pledged loyalty to the King of Kings in Ctesiphon and promised to offer the title of "Gur Khan" or "Khan of Khans", in fact he claimed to be the Emperor of the East and a brother country with the Song Dynasty. Even though his country was usurped by the Jin thieves, how could he be willing to submit to a mere Persian?
If he had not fought two major battles in succession with the Ghurid Dynasty in the south, resulting in heavy losses, causing the morale of his subordinates to fluctuate and leading to the rebellion of the Khwarezmian and Karakhanid peoples, how could he, the great Emperor of the Liao Dynasty, have fallen into such a situation?
"Well, no matter what, the two generals came with the sincere intention of helping you, so how can Your Majesty treat them lightly? Please invite the two of you to take your seats, and the soldiers under your command should also entertain you well. Don't lose the hospitality of our Great Liao Kingdom."
After Empress Xiao finished speaking, she reminded him in a low voice: "No matter how much prejudice Your Majesty has against the Persians, the Tatars who have conquered the Jin Kingdom and occupied Husiwoerdu are our greatest enemy."
When it comes to the Tatars, Yelu Zhilugu also fell silent.
The Western Liao was not completely ignorant of their homeland in the east, and they had previously attempted to return eastward and rebuild the Liao Dynasty.
After he ascended the throne, he sent envoys to Western Xia and even contacted the Emperor of Song, trying to attack the Jin Dynasty from both sides. However, his plan failed in the end because the Western Xia people disagreed.
Therefore, after hearing that the Tatars had defeated the Jin army of 300,000 in a battle at Yehuling, Yelu Zhilugu was terrified. When the Tatar army of 20,000 was approaching, he did not dare to underestimate them at all.
But even though he took it seriously, he was still easily defeated. How could he dare to ignore such a powerful enemy?
"Well, let's do as the Queen says."
Ivan couldn't understand what they were mumbling, but the interpreter was no fool. He translated some of the words and simply ignored others.
When Ivan heard that the Khitan Khan invited them to take a seat and sent maids to serve them and offered them fine wine and delicious food, he thought that the Khitan Khan was quite fond of him, so he drank a few more glasses and could not sit still.
He raised his glass and stood up, saying respectfully: "Your Excellency the Khitan Khan, I have a gift for you. I only ask that you open a military camp outside Samarkand, recruit new soldiers, train them, and better defend the Khan against foreign enemies."
Yelu Zhilugu looked at the Khitan nobles around him with a mixture of laughter and tears: "Hahaha, look at this mixed Hu who is often used as a slave, with only 7,000 tribesmen and less than a hundred cavalrymen, and he hasn't even fought for this Khan yet, but he's already asking for pasture for grazing."
A group of Khitan nobles also burst into laughter. Naturally, they did not take the reinforcements led by Ivan seriously. If 5,000 cavalry could still make them look at them differently, then 5,000 infantry were really not worth mentioning.
The interpreter then stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, now is the time to use people. It is said that these two men have served under the king of the Green Caliphate and fought bloody battles with the Crusaders. They have even faced the dragon driven by the Crusader King. They are brave and courageous. The Green Caliphate has always had a bad relationship with the Persians. These two were sent as reinforcements because they are not trusted by the Persian king. Your Majesty only needs to win them over and they will surely fight for you."
The Green Caliphate actually refers to the Fatimid Dynasty. Saladin came to power through a military coup, and the period was short, so the Khitans did not change the name.
"The Crusades? Are they the armies organized by the Western Nestorians to fight against the Zoroastrians?"
Western Liao was located in Central Asia, but it was not completely ignorant of what was happening in the West. Although Buddhism was the state religion of the Kara-Khitan Kingdom, most of its tribes, like the Sassanid Empire, believed in Zoroastrianism, and a few believed in Nestorianism.
In the more distant eastern steppes, there were also many Tatars who believed in Nestorianism, but their beliefs were very crude, combined with their own primitive religions, and had long been very different from Nestorianism.
"Yes."
Yelu Zhilugu stroked his beard and said, "It turns out that these two people are not the confidants of the Persian king at all, but the subordinates of the Green-robed Arabs. Then how come they are under the command of the Persian king and sent to support us?"
The interpreter briefly explained the details, and Yelu Zhilugu couldn't help laughing: "The ruler of the Green-clad Arabs is a wonderful man. He can come up with such a way to disgust the Persian king who claims to be the master of the Zoroastrian world. No wonder these two unlucky guys were sent to us."
As he spoke, he stood up and said, "Allow them a piece of land in the western suburbs of Samarkand, but tell them that they are not allowed to recruit soldiers at will. If they need manpower, they can go out and fight those horse bandits! All the captives and spoils can be used by them as they please."
Although Samarkand was wealthy, it was located in the border area of Western Liao. The Khwarezmian rebellion in the west often invaded and plundered. Although their attacks were not large-scale, they were still very difficult to deal with. If they were allowed to continue, it would inevitably affect the fatness of Samarkand's purse.
In addition to the Khwarezmians, many wandering nomads who left their tribes, or even escaped slaves, who had neither land nor livestock, would also take up swords and engage in this no-cost business. However, they were so weak that they dared not provoke even slightly stronger caravans.
After hearing the interpreter's retelling, Ivan was overjoyed. He bowed respectfully and presented to the Khitan Khan the treasures that the delegation had originally intended to give to the Sassanid king.
After leaving the hall, Ivan felt refreshed and wanted to laugh three times.
"Fulke, we finally have a chance to train soldiers and expand our military strength!"
Fulk was not as excited as Ivan: "Didn't the Khitan Khan say that we are only allowed to recruit horse bandits?"
"Hey, you don't know, on this prairie, there are people everywhere who can't survive or are forced to, or voluntarily become bandits. Many of our people who couldn't survive due to famine became Cossacks. As long as we defeat these people and give them a chance to survive, it will be easy to recruit them under our command."
Ivan laughed and said, "Even if we don't recruit new soldiers, if we buy more horses and train a cavalry team like the Mamluks, our power will increase dramatically."
Fulk asked suspiciously, "By the way, how much wealth did you collect from the delegation that day? Why haven't you used it up yet?"
Ivan smiled mysteriously: "Guess?"
Fulk rolled his eyes: "No guessing."
Love is money. When he was lord of Languedoc, he had no talent for financial management, otherwise he would not have been so poor as to join the Crusades.